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‘It hurts like hell’ - Michael Owen reveals Liverpool pain over Manchester United abuse
MICHAEL OWEN has revealed it “hurts like hell” when he receives abuse from Liverpool supporters.
Premier League legend Michael Owen discusses his new book
Fifteen years after his first autobiography ‘Off The Record’ was first published, Owen is set to release a new book on his life later this year.
The former England striker wants to set the record straight in what is set to be an explosive story of his football career.
Chester-born Owen started out at Liverpool, winning five major team honours as well as the Ballon d’Or in 2001.
But he caused uproar among the Anfield faithful when he joined their bitter rivals Manchester United from Newcastle in 2009.
In an exclusive interview with Reach Sport and the Liverpool Echo, Owen has claimed the abuse from Liverpool supporters is very few and far between.
But when he does come across the odd disgruntled fan, he just remembers the 158 goals he scored during his time with the Reds.
“Of course there’s the Liverpool side and of course it hurts like hell if somebody has a go at me, a Liverpool fan having a go at me, because then I just trawl back in my archive, in my mind, and think how I feel about the club and what I did for the club and everything else and what I felt about the people at the time and all the rest of it,” Owen said.
“And just to think that people could almost, in a matter of two or three seconds, just make their mind up because you wore black and he wore red, or you wore blue and he wore yellow, just because a colour of a shirt or whatever.
“So I think that’s obviously part of football, the tribal nature of following a football team.
It hurts like hell if somebody has a go at me, a Liverpool fan having a go at me
“Of course I’ve had to live through all of that as well and the fallout of all that.
“And of course it’s only a minority most of the time.
“I go out into town, I go out for meals, I go out to bars, I go out to football stadiums, everywhere, I don’t shy away from anything.
“And I could literally count on one hand the amount of abusive people there are.
“So I’ve been very lucky from that matter, I’d like to think that out there I can get on with people in the real world.
“But of course there are other mediums that exist in the world and as I say before, some comments on there can cut quite deep, not just to me but to family and things like that.
“But in saying that, I don’t lose sleep at night over things like that.
“I’ve learned to have thick son right since I was a very young boy.
“So it’s fine but it’s just nice just to be able to tell my story.”